This is such a beautiful piece, Danni! I’m glad you finally published it, and I’m glad I came across it when I did. There are so many nuggets of wisdom, but my favorite is, “we are here together learning how to make not knowing feel like absolutely enough.” That is the key, isn’t it?! ♥️
Aaah Liz, this is probably my favorite too. It is the reminder that serves me the most bc the question marks keep adding up for me. I don’t chase easy and I don’t expect to ever have things figured out. My ducks are wild and wandering all over the place. When we decide not to wait, we can love our life just the chaotic way it is. There is always joy to be found. I look back at those brief easy moments with a smile but we don't need them to keep smiling. With this knowing, we become much easier to be with; it becomes easier to love ourselves. Thank you for popping in. Are you still on the road? 😘😘
Your comments are an entire essay, Danni! Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
I am back-and-forth these days to my other camper, a 1991 Winnebago, parked in my in-laws’ driveway at their lake house. It’s the best of both worlds… a free campsite, and a free shower! 😄
Danni, what I appreciate about this piece is that it does not present love as sentimentality or optimism detached from reality; you frame it as an intentional orientation toward life even while fully acknowledging fear, uncertainty, exhaustion, grief, and contradiction. The recurring movement back toward “the essential” gives the essay its real grounding, because beneath all the reflection runs a steady insistence that so much of modern suffering comes from drifting too far from what actually sustains us: presence, compassion, rest, connection, self-trust, and the courage to live truthfully.
I was also struck by how often you return people back to their own agency without harshness. “You are the King of your kingdom” could have easily become cliché in another person’s hands, but here it feels more like a reminder of responsibility paired with tenderness: we may not control everything that happens, but we do participate in how we meet it. And the line “Lost feels less scary when you learn to love your whole self” carries real wisdom because it reframes healing less as finally becoming certain and more as becoming gentler toward your own humanity while still moving forward. Thank you for writing with such openness, warmth, and emotional honesty.
You are the King of your Kingdom actually came from my husband. We have always repeated to our daughters the importance of thinking with their own minds. One day he said to our younger daughter when she was 12, who is controlling your Kingdom? She thought about it for a moment and then said, I am King. Thinking with our own minds, understanding what beliefs are ours and what has sneakily slided into our belief system, knowing what we want to believe and staying true to our values, making intentional choices - all so difficult nowadays, all so very essential. Thank you Kevin for your presence here. I really appreciate you. Sending love your way.
This is my life. Even with the challenges I have today- there’s no other time in my life I would return to in favor of the freedom and adventure and inner peace I have now. Thank you for sharing your light, dear Danni!💜💜💜
Up close things are often blurry. When we distance ourselves from the situations and experiences, as we do when we look back at the past, we are able to see a clearer, better, truer view. Not always, but if we can remember this while we are going through the challenge - while we are feeling fear and all the ‘underneath-fear’ emotions - we can choose not to wait for the blur to pass to appreciate what is happening right now. Either way, this is our life. Better to practice loving it. Thank you Sage for your time and love.
Hi beautiful Martine, thank you. Sometimes all I need to return to my truest self is to repeat this question - who is reigning your Kingdom? The answer has to be me. Any other answer does not deserve us. Love and more love and more love. 💞
This is such a beautiful piece, Danni! I’m glad you finally published it, and I’m glad I came across it when I did. There are so many nuggets of wisdom, but my favorite is, “we are here together learning how to make not knowing feel like absolutely enough.” That is the key, isn’t it?! ♥️
Aaah Liz, this is probably my favorite too. It is the reminder that serves me the most bc the question marks keep adding up for me. I don’t chase easy and I don’t expect to ever have things figured out. My ducks are wild and wandering all over the place. When we decide not to wait, we can love our life just the chaotic way it is. There is always joy to be found. I look back at those brief easy moments with a smile but we don't need them to keep smiling. With this knowing, we become much easier to be with; it becomes easier to love ourselves. Thank you for popping in. Are you still on the road? 😘😘
Your comments are an entire essay, Danni! Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
I am back-and-forth these days to my other camper, a 1991 Winnebago, parked in my in-laws’ driveway at their lake house. It’s the best of both worlds… a free campsite, and a free shower! 😄
“Breathe like a tree.” So good, my dear!
Danni, what I appreciate about this piece is that it does not present love as sentimentality or optimism detached from reality; you frame it as an intentional orientation toward life even while fully acknowledging fear, uncertainty, exhaustion, grief, and contradiction. The recurring movement back toward “the essential” gives the essay its real grounding, because beneath all the reflection runs a steady insistence that so much of modern suffering comes from drifting too far from what actually sustains us: presence, compassion, rest, connection, self-trust, and the courage to live truthfully.
I was also struck by how often you return people back to their own agency without harshness. “You are the King of your kingdom” could have easily become cliché in another person’s hands, but here it feels more like a reminder of responsibility paired with tenderness: we may not control everything that happens, but we do participate in how we meet it. And the line “Lost feels less scary when you learn to love your whole self” carries real wisdom because it reframes healing less as finally becoming certain and more as becoming gentler toward your own humanity while still moving forward. Thank you for writing with such openness, warmth, and emotional honesty.
You are the King of your Kingdom actually came from my husband. We have always repeated to our daughters the importance of thinking with their own minds. One day he said to our younger daughter when she was 12, who is controlling your Kingdom? She thought about it for a moment and then said, I am King. Thinking with our own minds, understanding what beliefs are ours and what has sneakily slided into our belief system, knowing what we want to believe and staying true to our values, making intentional choices - all so difficult nowadays, all so very essential. Thank you Kevin for your presence here. I really appreciate you. Sending love your way.
This is my life. Even with the challenges I have today- there’s no other time in my life I would return to in favor of the freedom and adventure and inner peace I have now. Thank you for sharing your light, dear Danni!💜💜💜
Up close things are often blurry. When we distance ourselves from the situations and experiences, as we do when we look back at the past, we are able to see a clearer, better, truer view. Not always, but if we can remember this while we are going through the challenge - while we are feeling fear and all the ‘underneath-fear’ emotions - we can choose not to wait for the blur to pass to appreciate what is happening right now. Either way, this is our life. Better to practice loving it. Thank you Sage for your time and love.
What a great, inspiring read. Thank you Danni 🙏🏻
Being King, creating, courage.... I love this.
Have the most beautiful day possible ✨️🦋
Hi beautiful Martine, thank you. Sometimes all I need to return to my truest self is to repeat this question - who is reigning your Kingdom? The answer has to be me. Any other answer does not deserve us. Love and more love and more love. 💞